The Role of the Prefrontal Cortex and Functional Connectivity during Maritime Operations: An fNIRS study.

Introduction: Watchkeeping is a significant activity during maritime operations, and failures of sustained attention and decision-making can increase the likelihood of a collision.

Methods: A study was conducted in a ship bridge simulator where 40 participants (20 experienced/20 inexperienced) performed: (1) a 20-min period of sustained attention to locate a target vessel and (2) a 10-min period of decision-making/action selection to perform an evasive maneuver. Half of the participants also performed an additional task of verbally reporting the position of their vessel.